Kikuya

You know, it wasn’t bad for the price. I had a lunch set and it was okay. It included miso soup, rice and tsukemono, so I was happy. My wife, however, had shrimp ramen, and she was disappointed. The shrimp were these tiny little things, and they were of the dried-​out variety. The parking was typical inner-​city Honolulu: just wide enough to park your Japanese car in… as long as you have no intention of opening the doors!

Low quality food extremely overpriced. You would at least expect the place to be clean for that price but it is not.

I always come here because of the great location~rt across the street from my business! Parking is a little busy but I’ve never had a problem finding a space. Great tasting Japanese food delivered to our table within 10 minutes of ordering during a busy lunch time! Quick and pleasant service!
Only gripe I’ve had w/​this restaurant is on 1 occasion that I went for dinner there late~35 min.‘s b4 closing. We ordered within a few min.‘s & then got all our dishes & sushi within 15 min.‘s, which was great! We then decided that a large Asahi beer would b tasty with our food so we got one w/​2 glasses. 10 min.‘s later we were half way done with our meal but needed another beer… our waitress had to ask another lady (I’m assuming head waitress/​mayb manager?) if she could do so & she gave us what we saw «the nod» NO. WHY? It was 1 minute to restaurant closing time, & I guess we wouldn’t b done with it by 10 pm? Not sure, but I was still finishing my meal & drinking beverages is part of a meal experience anywhere! Oh well~feeling «rushed»…I hurried & washed my meal down with ice water that was provided. Other than that~food prepared that night was perfect & delish!

Excellent quality Japanese restaurant in Kalihi. Located next to the Post office on King Street across from Han Yang. Small hole in the wall place but it’s clean and has tables to sit down and enjoy your lunch or dinner.
Pretty extensive menu and will have something for everyone. The fish is fresh and the prices are affordable.
I recently ordered tenzaru soba and it was really good. The noodles were perfectly cooked and slightly chilled and tasty with the right amount of texture. The tempura that came with it was good as well but it was average I thought there was too much batter on and it was a little oily. For 11.95 I wasn’t complaining it was really good. My co worker ordered the Chirashi and he gobbled it up. Fish was very generous and fresh. The food came out quickly. Great place for work lunch or casual date in Kalihi.

You would think that this place would be an authentic Japanese eatery but it’s far from it. The inside restaurant consisted bamboo strewn walls, and a two middle layer on the roof that looks as if it’s hiding something (duck taped ceiling).
Food is extremely overpriced (especially for their sushi). A two set combo for dinner yielded $ 16.71 tax included, portions were really small and not worth the $ 16.71. I also ordered a spicy salmon roll (6 pieces – very small pieces) I’m not too sure if my roll was supposed to be cut that way but they were uneven (really obvious that it was uneven).
Waiter did not do a good job in remembering our orders. We all got our foods but my friend whose order was sent to another table. The waiter did not to seem to notice the mishap in our orders until another waiter came by after flagging

This place is a solid bet and won’t break the bank. The lunch specials are definitely better value than the set dinner bentos. The sushi is delicious and fresh.
The lunch special comes with 2 choices (the salmon and miso butterfish are my go-​to) and you get a tiny perfectly cooked portion of each. It also comes with a small salad, rice, sashimi and tempura for under $ 13. Dinner time is the same bento, but I think the price goes up by $ 6 – 7. Not sure what reasoning is behind it, but we tend to go for lunch instead for that reason.
The rainbow roll had generous cuts of fresh fish and was expertly rolled. It did take about 20 minutes to come out even though there was just 1 other table.
The service is friendly and the parking is decent for the area.
Not really a «destination» dining experience to drive across town to, but we go from time to time because it’s close to home, never a wait for a table and has good hours of business.

This place has become our usual lunch spot for department celebrations. Located conveniently in Kalihi, the prices are affordable, and the food is good. There’s even a small sushi bar near the entrance. That’s a good sign that the fish is fresh.
We usually order the teishoku combination. I like the miso butterfish and tonkatsu there. It comes with tempura, miso soup, rice, and tsukemono. All for $ 10. Good deal.

Located behind Diners in kalihi. Small establishment about 50 capacity. Sushi bar on the right when you walk in. It’s best to RSVP because it fills up fast. Went for dinner and came out very full. We ordered, chicken katsu, rainbow roll– fresh, chicken katsu don, shrimp tempura with soba, ahi head and miso ramen. Ohh was ono. Prices is reasonable running from $ 8.45 and above. The katsu sauce is good. Better than usual. It has a sweet taste to it. I came for the ahi head. You get two large pieces. It’s more for your buck here for a Japanese restaurant. The chicken katsu don was huge. Definitely will come here for dinner again.
Mood: Full

When I win the lottery I’m going to have Kikuya set up shop in my kitchen so I can eat that every day. My fiancé and I are addicted to their food, it’s like a drug we need badly so we come here for our fix every week.
$ 11.95 goes a long way here during lunch. You’ll get two entrée choices, miso soup, salad, tsukemono, rice, a shrimp tempura and hot tea for a lunch combo.
Stay for dinner and tack on four more dollars and get larger entrée portions. I’ve had the entire entrée menu and the only dish to stay away from is the ahi steak. It’s like all the yummy ingredients were rationed out for their other dishes, so there was none left over for the ahi. Butterfish Misoyaki, New York steak (only during dinner) and the sashimi are winners!
There are only 11 or 12 tables so come towards the end of the lunch rush, 1 or
1:30 ish, if you don’t want to wait, if not you may have to consider one of the other restaurants in the plaza.
Parking can get tricky for dinner as its gobbled up by the bar crowd of the area.
If you’re in Kalihi check Kikuya out, it looks like a ghetto area but their food will surprise you!

This place is definitely a hole in the wall, you wouldn’t even notice that it was there. The Lunch Box with the sashimi and Butterfish misoyaki is what I ordered. It’s cheap and you get what you pay for. The sashimi wasn’t the kind that melts in your mouth, but it also wasn’t the tough stringy kind either. It was pretty good. The Butterfish slice was small, but the lunch box comes with a salad, a piece of shrimp tempura, bowl of rice, miso soup, picked sides and some fish fat? LOL. My kids had the cold Zaru soba and gyoza combo. The gyoza was decent, but not stuffed to the brim, also has noodles perhaps as a filler. The kids liked it, that’s all that mattered. The staff was polite and attentive, they didn’t hover or excessively ask if everything was ok, my water was always filled. My son had to use the restroom and it was surprisingly clean and there was an extra chair which was super convenient while I waited for him. It definitely helped that they had two restrooms, male and female. I’d definitely come back here again, perhaps to try the dinner menu.

First time ever coming here. I’ve seen it around, but just never made it in until Friday night. It’s clean inside and cozy feel. The wait help are friendly. I ordered the 2 choice teishoku, butter fish and nigiri sushi. I was very pleased with the taste and portion size. It was so good, I also ordered the salmon skin roll. It was really satisfying! A member if my party ordered a Chirashi type bowl with chunks of ahi, as he wasn’t as pleased as I was, as he doesn’t like the stringy cuts. I guess they use the better/​non stringy cuts for the sushi and sashimi. This was a great find for my family and I, as I will definitely return and patronize this sushi restaurant again. Korean waitress was very friendly and willing to answer my inquiries.

FOOD: 3 Stars
Kikuya is pretty mediocre in terms of Japanese food. I ordered the chirashi, which has been my standard order at most Japanese restaurants with the exception of misoyaki butterfish, lately. I find it a determining factor of whether or not I will return to dine again. The chirashi at Kikuya, although aesthetically pleasing, not that pleasing on my taste buds. The chirashi consisted of one piece each of hamachi, maguro (there were 2), salmon, ebi, tako, a bit of spicy ahi, tamago (there were 2), tai, daikon and ika atop a bed of sushi rice. It sounds like a lot, but some of the pieces were small. The fish was alright. I usually enjoy the melt in your mouth buttery taste of all of my fish in my chirashi, but the fish was a little bland. The daikon tasted a little funny to me, too. Also, the sushi rice was a little too vinegary for my liking. I enjoyed the hamachi, thoughts. The spicy ahi was good at first, but I started biting into something hard. It was spicy ahi gunkan, but I was still a little weirded out. I wasn’t sure if it was bone or not. A friend ordered the sashimi set A and the pieces of fish were quite small.
PRICE: 4 STARS
It is pretty cheap. You get what you pay for though. I paid $ 16.95 for my chirashi.
EXPERIENCE: 3.5 STARS
It was alright. The place was a little hole in the wall restaurant that initially looked closed because it had blackout things lined on the windows. The location was easy to find and parking was easy to get. You can’t see it from the street, so we thought we may have been lost. The people were cordial – greeted us, sat us, and served us. We were sat on a 6-​person table smack dab in the middle of the restaurant when we were only a part of 4. That was a little weird to me. One of the people working questioned someone in my party’s order in regards to if he was sure he wanted that, which kind of threw me aback. I can’t describe the tone in which she said it in, but it was a tad discomforting. The other person working refilled our water and tea many times, but was quite stoic. I always said thank you, but she didn’t seem to budge.

Great place to go for lunch!
My co-​worker introduced this place to me and its pretty good and authentic Japanese food. I like their bento box and the variety of options you are able to choose from. Some of their ahi is a bit dry but tempura is delicious! I haven’t tried their sushi yet but my co-​worker ordered a sushi bowl and that thing is HUGE! Price is okay but seafood tends to be pricey so it is expected.
Good «hole in the wall» because it is in the back side and not too visible if coming from the main street (N. King St). Good lunch place!

Got here at around 6:30pm on a Saturday night. My husband and I drove separately but we were able to find parking right away for both of our cars. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we were seated. It was empty when we first arrived but it filled up pretty quickly while we were there. My daughter commented on how cute the place was. She also said that the bathroom was also cute and clean. Her exact words were, «Guarantee they check and clean the bathroom every hour.» A restaurant with clean bathrooms score big in our family.
We started with the California sushi and the spicy ahi sushi. My husband and I both agreed that it was the best sushi we’ve ever had! So big and fresh and made so well.
For dinner, I ordered the 3 choice meal (Don’t judge me… I was starving…) Anyway, my meal choices were grilled ahi, teriyaki chicken and shrimp and vegetable tempura which included rice, tsukemono and miso soup. I enjoyed everything except I didn’t really care for the grilled ahi. It was kinda too fishy tasting. My husband liked his meal but he said that the butterfish wasn’t that tasty. It also looked kind of pathetic being that it was just two tiny flat little pieces of fish. My daughter enjoyed her Tempura Don. Although, it seemed different from the usual Donburi dishes that I’m used to – there didn’t seem to be any egg in it.
Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience. The 4 stars is for the great service and cleanliness of the place, the awesome sushi and food was pretty decent. I would eat there again and maybe just try something different next time.

The sashimi slices are large, generous, tender, and fresh. Good quality sashimi. And must drink Kirin Ichiban in a chilled glass with the sashimi after a long day at work. Aaahhhhh!

This restaurant is tucked away in the small complex by the post office, behind new diners drive-​in. I’ve been to this restaurant only a couple of times. We went on a friday night and it was pretty busy around 7p.m. so we waited probably half an hour before we got seated. Although there was no one that had greeted us nor was there a sign in for us to put our names down. So we stayed in the restaurant and waited on the seats till we saw people were leaving and made sure we were seen so we can be seated first than those who were just standing around waiting for their seats as well.
We already knew what we wanted so we went on ahead to place our order. I got the vegetable donbori and my boyfriend had gotten the sashimi with tonkatsu and chicken combo. The service was pretty decent and we didn’t wait too long for our food. The quality of the food here is really good and prices are really reasonable for what you get.
Parking is a headache in this area, so it may me tricky to find parking as it shares parking lot with the different restaurants, stores, and bars there. Food quality is great, prices are reasonable but location sucks and service could use a little help when there’s a wait line.

Great place for lunch, Lunch box w. choice of 2 entries comes with a shrimp tempura, rice & tea, if you are pressed for time, be there by 11:30, sashimi was good, butter fish awesome, The katsu is always good as well as the teri chicken. Always a steady crowd there, I would rate this a light to med lunch, portions are good but not plentiful.

Ha ha ha. I guess it’s Japanese miniaturization at work. Like in Japanese cars, electronics, dogs, gardens and trees. The food at Kikuya is «model». Not as in exemplary. As in ¼ scale.
I ordered the «Lunch Box». For $ 10.95, you get 2 choices from ahi steak, katsu, or teriyaki, beef teriyaki, butterfish misoyaki, chicken teri, katsu, or wing, short ribs, salmon, sashimi, or tonkatsu
+
vegetable or 1 piece shrimp tempura or 2 pieces gyoza
+
Rice, miso soup, salad, and tsukemono.
Sounds like a good deal right?
But my salmon, ahi steak, and shrimp tempura were ¼ the size of what I’ve gotten at other Japanese restaurants. For the price, fair I guess. I marveled at the cook’s knife skills to slice the salmon and ahi so thin and not have them vaporize when thrown on the fire. The taste was fine. What little of it I could make out from such small pieces.
Shrimp? What shrimp? Where?
The miso soup was hot and had bits of wakame and little cubes of tofu in it. The salad of iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, and carrot was dressed in a thin, watery miso dressing. I appreciate the effort, but both were just a bit above «bland».
For lunch, portions sensible… for fashion models trying to make weight.
I got the distinct sense that this place would be pretty good if they weren’t trying to stretch their dollars, and diners, so THIN.

Finally got to try this location. Had the misoyaki butterfish/​tempura combo — not bad for $ 14.95. Tempura was nice and flaky and butterfish was cooked perfectly.
Also ordered the agedashi tofu which looked good but the sauce was bland.
Service was so-​so. Our server had very little personality however the other two that were there was very pleasant.

My friends, husband, and I were hungry. We were craving Japanese food and since we were in the area we found this place. Ever since that day my husband and I go to this place whenever we want Japanese food.
Go here during their lunch special. It’s about $ 11 which includes two entrees, rice, salad, soup, and tsukemono. So far we tried:
1) Shrimp tempura: perfectly fried. No oily feeling. Huge piece.
2) Beef teriyaki: they use ribeye steak. Sliced into perfect bite size pieces and moist.
3) Miso butterfish: THIS IS A MUST! Flavored perfectly and their pieces are bigger than other places.
4) Sashimi: very fresh and ahi is red! Good amount.
Free private lot parking. Good customer service.